Bloodied-up Brenden Morrow helps lead Stars to key shootout win

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Brenden Morrow stood with a broken nose
talking through his mouth while bloody plugs filled his
nostrils.

The Stars captain had taken a puck to the face in the first
period that looked like it would take him out of the game --
possibly a few games. Instead, he returned to play and helped lead
Dallas to a 3-2 shootout win over the San Jose Sharks Monday
night.

"It wasn't a foot, it wasn't a shoulder ... " Morrow said
matter-of-factly. "you can put a mask on and breathe through your
mouth."

It was a symbol of what the Stars did against a very hungry
Sharks team in a very tense environment. Morrow showed just how
much the game meant to him, but so did Raycroft and Mike Ribeiro
and Brad Richards and Stephane Robidas and Trevor Daley. The list
went on and on. Despite struggling on the road against Western
Conference teams, despite struggling on the road with the power
play, despite struggling in recent games with slow starts, the
Stars decided Monday that none of that mattered.

They started strong, they scored a key power play goal, they
used the past as motivation instead of a weight _ and they beat a
very good San Jose team in a very hard-played game

"It was a huge win for us," said Stars coach Marc Crawford. "I
thought our guys did a terrific job of maintaining their composure
during some pretty hostile moments in the game. We lost our
captain, and he showed great courage and determination and I think
that really spirited on in our group. We had terrific performances
from guys who played a lot of minutes, and it's a good sign that
we're able to do these things on the road and persevere."

In addition to Morrow's performance, the Stars saw Raycroft
bounce back from a rough game in Phoenix to stop 31 of 33 shots and
win his second shootout in three games. Raycroft and the Stars had
a tough patch in the second period when the Sharks scored twice in
two minutes to take a 2-1 lead. But he then shut the door with
several fantastic saves to allow Dallas to tie the game on a late
second period power play and then win it when he stopped two out of
three shooters in the shootout.

"It's a good win, it's a really good win," Raycroft said. "I
thought we found a way to fight through everything and we gutted it
out."

That was the theme for the night. Dallas gutted it out through a
very good start after playing very poorly at the start in a 5-2
loss to Phoenix Saturday. The Stars said they learned a lesson from
that loss, and wanted to make a statement. And clearly, they
did.

"To be honest, last year after having a loss in Phoenix like
that, we probably would have come out and tested the waters and let
them come at us and they would have controlled the game," said
Richards, who scored the game-winning shootout goal. "But this time
we excelled and didn't give them the lead. We came in and fought
hard and then fought even harder when we got behind."

Dallas took a 1-0 lead early on a perfect Ribeiro set up to
Jamie Benn for Benn's seventh goal of the season, but then
everything got wonky after Morrow left. San Jose posted a serious
rally where they dominated puck possession and got goals from Derek
Joslin and Ryane Clowe.

The Sharks appeared to be ready to seize momentum in front of a
sellout crowd at HP Pavilion, but then Benn and Morrow worked hard
to draw a penalty late in the second period, and the Stars'
much-maligned road power play finally came through. Robidas put a
shot on goal that Ribeiro tipped in, and the Stars had their
tie.

Both goalies then exchanged fantastic saves until the game got
to a shootout. There, Benn and Richards scored for the Stars, while
Raycroft stopped two Sharks shots.

"The shootout is like anything else, it goes in spurts,"
Richards said. "It makes a huge difference. If you count the
points, it's why we're in first place."

The Stars move to 18-10-2 (38 points) and retain first place in
the Pacific Division. The Sharks, defending Pacific champs, fall to
15-10-5 (35 points). The two teams will meet again in Dallas on
Thursday.

"It had a little bit of everything, good pace, physical play,
goalies played well, both teams got pucks to the net. It was a
pretty basic, simple game,'' Morrow said. "There was a lot of the
mental toughness we talked about in the past, and that was really
good to see."

Well, as much as he could see around his swollen nose.

Briefly: The Stars stayed overnight in San Jose and planned to
fly back to Dallas on Tuesday ... Morrow will have his nose looked
at by a doctor when he returns to Texas. It is broken and will
probably have to be reset ... The Stars scratched Matt Niskanen and
played Mark Fistric. Fistric played 12:45 and was minus-2 ...
Stephane Robidas played 29:23.

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